Kent & Medway OFSTED Reports to Easter

Kent primary school OFSTED Reports up to Easter show considerable improvement on an already strong position as shown in the summary tables below. Outcomes include 15 schools, a fifth of the 72 inspected, improving their assessment as against just 3 which declined. The proportion of Good or Outstanding Schools inspected is well above the most recent national figure, with seven Outstanding schools. Four schools improved their grading by two levels; Aylesford Primary; Chantry Community Academy and Tymberwood Academy (both in Gravesham), taking them out of Special Measures to Good; and Cliftonville Primary to Outstanding. Two other schools, Pilgrim’s Way Canterbury, and Copperfields Academy also in Gravesham, were taken out of Special Measures. All the last six are academies. By coincidence two of these, Chantry (Greenacre Academy Trust) and Pilgrim’s Way (Village Academy Trust) are advertisers on this website, both Academy Trusts taking over after previous failed conversions, the other four Trusts inheriting their schools directly from KCC control.

You will find a summary of the current position for Kent schools written by Mr Patrick Leeson, Director of Education, here, although it omits the most recent Inspections of schools that have become academies and not been re-inspected, following government practice. The Kent schools affected include 11 who were judged Inadequate in their most recent Inspection.

In Medway, just 8 primary schools were inspected with a slight decline in performance, and still well below national levels. One Medway Primary school was found Outstanding, Cliffe Woods Primary, for the second time. Gordon Children's Academy Junior School improved by two Grades to Good, matching the Infant School which retained its Good status.

Of the 22 Kent and Medway secondary schools inspected, 17 were found Good, five Requiring Improvement, with just one change from the schools' previous assessments.

The remarkable Kent performance is corroborated by the improvement in the proportion of Kent primary pupils in Good or Outstanding schools at 91% according to OFSTED data, up by a third since 2012, and the 13th most improved Local Authority in the country out of 152. Back in November 2011, I wrote: “Patrick Leeson, Kent's new Corporate Director of Education, said in an interview with Kent on Sunday this week: ‘My main job is to ensure that standards are good and children get better outcomes. Standards are good in secondary schools and most are either good or outstanding, which is great. But there are not enough good or outstanding primary schools. That's a key issue’ ".Mr Leeson will be retiring at the end of this year. By this judgement alone he has had an excellent term of office.

The seven Outstanding schools are: The Brent, Dartford; Cliftonville School, Thanet; Green Park Community and Temple Ewell CofE Primary, both Dover; Loose Primary, Maidstone; Queenborough, Sittingbourne; and Whitstable and Seasalter Endowed CofE. Cliftonville is an Academy, sponsored by The Coastal Academies Trust, converting in 2013. Temple Ewell, an academy sponsored by Aquila, the Anglican Diocese of Canterbury Multi-Academy Trust was placed in Special Measures in 2012 and converted in 2014. The two Loose Schools, Junior and Infant, have had a rocky past, until coming together as one in 2014. Pleasingly, many of these are from socially deprived parts of the county, proving that the suggested correlation between OFSTED outcomes and affluence of neighbourhood is limited.

St Stephen's Primary School in Tonbridge was the only school to be found Inadequate, being placed in Special Measures. The practice of cancelling OFSTED assessments at Academy conversion helps performance records considerably as such schools are not re-inspected for at least three years after conversion. They can have been already as many as five years before conversion without an inspection! For Kent the list of these schools includes 11 recently converted or sponsored primary academies who were found Inadequate in their most recent inspection as county schools and so not counted in Kent’s official figures (Kent has, quote: ‘one school in a category of concern, out of a total of 545 schools that have a current inspection result’). The schools are: Kennington Junior and Beaver Green in Ashford; Knockhall and Westgate in Dartford; St Mary of Charity in Faversham; Istead Rise and Rosherville in Gravesham; Oaks Primary Academy (previously Oak Trees) in Maidstone; Brenzett and St Nicholas CofE (New Romney) in Shepway, and Lansdowne in Swale; There were also eight Outstanding schools not included in the official figures!

Medway Primary Schools

63% of the 8 Medway primary schools inspected were found to be Good or Outstanding, well below the national average, although on a small sample of schools inspected. Cliffe Woods Primary retained its Outstanding assessment, although an academy with a chequered 2016 - the headteacher having been removed. Just one school improved its assessment, Gordon Children's Academy Junior School improved by two Grades to Good, matching the Infant School which retained its Good status. Featherby Junior School was placed in Special Measures. Medway Council has a policy to encourage all its schools to become academies, so that Byron, Cuxton Junior, Temple Mill, Twydall, and Warren Wood, have all converted or been sponsored from Special Measures but have not yet been re-inspected.

Kent & Medway Primary OFSTED Outcomes Sept 2016 - Easter 2017

Outstanding

Good

Requires

Improvement

Inadequate

Total

Up

Down

Kent

7

58

6

1

72

15

3

Kent %

10

81

8

1

21

4

Kent FS &

Academies

3

12

2

0

17

8

0

Academy %

17

67

17

0

50

0

Medway

1

4

2

1

8

1

2

Medway %

13

50

25

13

13

25

Medway

Academies

1

3

2

0

6

1

1

Medway

Academies %

17

50

33

0

17

17

0

National %

Sep - Dec 16

3

70

21

6

National %

2015-16

6

71

18

5

Kent Secondary

The performance of every one of the Kent secondary schools inspected this year (one in seven of the total) has remained unchanged, the overall figure is very promising at 80% Good and Outstanding, well above the National 2015-16 percentage, running at 57%. With the three grammar schools, Borden, Norton Knatchbull and Tunbridge Wells Boys all Good, 79% of the non-selectives, or 13 schools are also classified Good, also well above the national average, confirming along with the excellent GCSE performance that the selective structure delivers overall. The OFSTED Good schools are: Abbey; Dartford Science and Technology; Ebbsfleet Academy; Hayesbrook; Leigh UTC; Marsh Academy; Mascalls; Northfleet Girls; Northfleet Technology; St Anselm’s; St George’s (Gravesend); St Simon Stock; and Wilmington Academy. Requires Improvement are: Dover, Christ Church Academy; High Weald Academy, Cranbrook; Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy; and Towers, Ashford.

The OFSTED Inspection Report of Leigh UTC does raise concerns about the quality of some OFSTED Inspections, coming to its very positive comments based on just 102 pupils and shrinking, in Years 10 and 11 as described here. With a Year 10 group of 38 students, presumably split into two groups, and a high student staff ration, it is surprising that OFSTED didn't notice or comment on these falling numbers or the very favourable staffing ratios in coming to its conclusions. I have recently also commented on both Isle of Sheppey Academy here and High Weald here in a recent article.

Medway Secondary

Whilst just five schools have been inspected this school year, all non-selective they represent a high proprtion of Medway’s 17 secondary schools to be chosen. Three were assessed as Good: Brompton Academy; The Howard; and Strood Academy. All three are oversubscribed, Brompton being one of the most popular in Kent or Medway. Two schools Require Improvement: Robert Napier; and St John Fisher Catholic School which is the only secondary non academy in Medway, down from Good, with 51 Local Authority Allocations and still 26 vacancies on allocation this year.